Engine and human-powered personal vehicles such as bicycles and motorcycles present enhanced safety risks to both riders and collaterals such as other personal vehicle riders, motor vehicle operators, and pedestrians because of the greater speeds, weight, and smaller, less visible profiles involved. This enhanced risk is magnified substantially in low visibility conditions that occur during nighttime and inclement weather. Of paramount importance therefore to the maintenance of safe commuting environments is the necessity for visibility and clear communication of intention on behalf of the rider to those around her or him both on foot and on commute.
In addition, with the widespread popularity and use of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and portable GPS devices as real-time navigational aids, an unexploited opportunity presents itself in linking such devices with wearables to allow presentation of navigational information in new ways other than through some form of display that requires the rider to turn her or his attention away from the road, presenting a safety risk to both the vehicle operator and others.
An additional problem presents in the need for greater visibility of smaller personal vehicles and craft to other riders, drivers, and pedestrians. Imperfect solutions largely consist of static illuminants such as bicycle lights and reflectors and government-mandated head and rear lights and signals for motorcycles and other engine powered vehicles sharing public roadways. What each of these solutions lack is a means of dynamic signaling of intention by the rider that is both easily recognizable and easy to accurately activate spontaneously and without distraction by the operator.
A wearable device which operates to allow riders of both human- and engine-driven apparatuses sharing public streets and roads to seamlessly receive navigational prompts and related information by means other than distracting electronic displays or personal audio devices—which in many jurisdictions have been made illegal to use while operating a motor vehicle—would facilitate the long needed marriage of readily available and useful navigational prompting and information delivery with maintenance and even enhancement of the operator's focus and attention.
Furthermore, the narrow profile of one to two person vehicles such as motorcycles and bicycles presents an additional difficulty in creating a vehicle mounted signaling system that allows for adequate and unambiguous indication of change of direction, i.e., a turn or lane change to the left or right. A universally accepted system for this has not yet been developed or adopted, particularly for unpowered vehicles such as bicycles.
A solution to the joined problems of signaling course changes for personal vehicles to others and for riders to receive route information without distraction is described in the present disclosure as a wearable that incorporates haptic feedback from wireless navigational devices and automatically (as well as manually) triggered signal lights.